The participating teams for the new Danish World Tour race, Copenhagen Sprint, are now in place. And it is the world elite who will come to Copenhagen on 21-22 June. Twelve female and ten male World Tour teams will start together with a number of Pro Teams and a Danish national team for both women and men.
The current holder of the Giro’s pink jersey, Mads Pedersen, will probably be on the starting line in Roskilde when the first edition of the Copenhagen Sprint is run on Sunday 22 June. In any case, his team, Lidl-Trek, is among the 22 male teams participating in the new Danish World Tour race.
A look at the route that starts in Roskilde – just 30 km from Tølløse, where Mads Pedersen grew up – reveals that the rider, who has already won three stages in this year’s Giro d’Italia, is among the favorites when Copenhagen Spring is decided on Sølvgade in front of the National Gallery of Denmark.
At the finish line, however, Mads Pedersen can probably look forward to a tough fight from, among others, Kaden Groves, Olav Kooij, Dylan Groenewegen and his young compatriot Tobias Lund Andresen. In any case, Alpecin-Deceuninck, Team Visma/Lease a Bike, Team Jayco AlUla and Team Picnic PostNL are among the male World Tour teams, which also include Arkea.B&B Hotels, Bahrain-Victorius, Cofidis, Intermarché-Wanty and Red Bull-BORA-Hansgrobe.
They will be joined by 13 Pro Teams, which include Israel – Premier Tech, Lotto, Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team, Euskaltel-Euskadi and the Norwegian Uno-X Mobility with many Danes.
The last male team is the Danish national team, where national coach Michael Mørkøv has already announced that he will field the Danish champion Rasmus Søjberg and the experienced Kasper Asgreen and Casper Pedersen, among others.
The race director believes in exciting races
The participating teams have not yet named the riders who will ride the trip from Roskilde via North Zealand to Copenhagen, where it ends with an 11 km circuit. Nevertheless, race director Jesper Tikiøb is pleased with the strong lineup of cycling teams, and he expects an exciting cycling race.
“These are two strong fields, and I dare say that there is a guarantee of a really exciting cycling race for both the men and the women. The stage may be set for a sprinter’s finish, but a varied route awaits with plenty of opportunities to tease the sprinter teams, and when I see the two lineups, I’m sure it will happen,” says Jesper Tikiøb, who is also pleased with the participation of the two Danish national teams:
“We do not have the final participant lists until 72 hours before the race, but with the two national teams, we ensure that the audience can look forward to a lot of Danish riders, who will definitely take on key roles – either by showing off or by steering their team safely towards the circuit in Copenhagen.”
Strong field for the women’s race
As mentioned, the women’s field includes 12 World Tour teams. In addition, four Pro Teams, six Continental teams and the national team. This could mean the participation of Emma Norsgaard Bjerg, Lidl-Trek, and Uno-X Mobility riders Alberte Greve and Rebecca Koerner. With teams such as Team Visma/Lease a Bike, UAE Team ADQ, Team Picnic PostNL, Liv AlUla Jayco and Team SD Worx-Protime among the participants, there are also good opportunities for lots of strong, foreign sprinters in the field when it kicks off on Saturday 21 June.